Double-lung transplant recipient Hélène Campbell: 'I will never forget how blessed I am'

Lee Greenberg, Postmedia News05.24.2012

Helene Campbell, 21, received a life-saving transplant last month, after gaining enormous public attention through a social-media campaign. The campaign, which raised awareness for organ-donor shortages, picked up celebrity followers such as Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres.

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TORONTO — Bursting with joy and gratitude, double-lung transplant recipient Hélène Campbell made her first public appearance Thursday, and used the occasion to dance with her doctors.

"I'm probably going to get talked to after this," Campbell joked as she coaxed her doctors from behind their podium.

Campbell, 21, received a life-saving transplant last month, after gaining enormous public attention through a social media campaign. The campaign, which raised awareness for organ-donor shortages, picked up celebrity followers such as Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres.

At a news conference at a downtown Toronto hotel, Campbell was overflowing with positive energy, saying her life has been transformed in the seven weeks since her operation.

She is able to breathe easier, she says, giving her more energy to do things such as cook dinner for her mother and take a shower standing up.

"I have a voice," she told reporters and a large group of hospital staff who gathered to see her firsthand.

One of those doctors said Campbell had accomplished for organ-donor awareness "what we haven't."

"That's the power of youth . . . and social media," said Dr. Cecilia Chaparro.

Campbell, who wore a black blazer, blue jeans and purple running shoes, said she plans to go to university, but will dedicate the rest of her life to donor awareness.

"Why not? I have a perfect set of lungs and a story to tell," she said.

On Wednesday, Campbell received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work on organ donation. It was presented in person by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife, Laureen.

"There have been surprises every week," Campbell said.

Campbell was diagnosed last fall with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable and degenerative lung disease. She underwent a double-lung transplant April 6, as her condition deteriorated rapidly.

Campbell's health was in such a precarious state at the time that doctors decided to conduct a rare lobar transplant, rather than to wait for a donor who matched her petite frame.

The lobar transplant meant surgeons used only a portion of the donor lungs — in Campbell's case, the left upper lobe and the right lower and middle lobe.

Doctors called the surgery "one of the more courageous and challenging" they'd ever conducted.

In the weeks following the procedure, Campbell encountered infection and rejection of the new lungs, two common post-transplant conditions that are controlled with drugs. In early May, one week after being released from hospital, she was readmitted with breathing difficulties.

Campbell met the challenges with a unique brand of enthusiasm and grace, tweeting on her birthday, April 18, "21 yrs ago I breathed for the first time. Today I breathe for a 2nd beginning — a true miracle."

She was taken off a ventilator in late April and started breathing following a tracheotomy. Doctors reduced the size of the hole in her neck and Campbell is able to "cork" it for short periods of time to practise speaking again.

She also is exercising on a treadmill to help her regain strength.

At a news conference in late April, doctors were optimistic about her recovery but said it would be "25 years" before they could say she was out of the woods.

"There are often threats, including increased risk of infection (and) rejection that could recur," said Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, surgeon-in-chief for the University Health Network, a coalition of three large Toronto hospitals. "So we monitor and keep an eye on patients like this forever."

Campbell said her journey has filled her with a sense of gratitude.

"Everyday, I take 54 pills," she told reporters. "Every time I think of that (donor) family. I grieve their loss. I will never forget how blessed I am to have received this gift."

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Double-lung transplant recipient Hélène Campbell: 'I will never forget how blessed I am'

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